Their Kind of Science

There’s a lot of freedom in homeschooling. So much freedom that as a teaching parent you have to be very disciplined to ensure that you stay committed to teaching your child day after day. Just like there were days that I didn’t want to get up to work, there are days when I just want to stay in the bed and tell the kids, “No school. We’re sleeping in!” I just haven’t mustered up the courage yet to do this yet. But, I get real tempted some days.

 

We typically leave History and Science towards the end the day, lending these subjects to be a little dry after they’ve gotten through all of their other subjects. I needed to spice things up a bit, so I petitioned both girls to find out what Science topics they most wanted to learn about. They studied the Human Body, the oldest daughter digging a little deeper into varying functions of certain organ and my younger learning the identification of these organs.

 

 

Days like this makes the end of the school day feel like I’ve hit a home run. They were excited, learning, and they didn't whine or complain!

 

While some things about their body organs grossed them out, this was a great introduction to the Human Body as we’ll be revisiting it again in the years to come and dig even deeper.

 

 

 

The organ cutouts for this lesson and activity came from this fantastic homeschooling Mom,

http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/blog/2012/08/life-size-human-anatomy-activity-3.html

Letting My Hair Down Just for One Night

How fun is it to do girly stuff? If you're a girly girl its fun to drown yourself in pink and purple (my two favorite colors), let down your hair, and just be downright silly. I wasn't an overly girly girl growing up. I wasn't big on makeup and finger nail polish, but like any other girl I did want to look pretty and feel accepted by the girls that I hung around with and called my friends. As girls grow and get beyond the years of it still being comfortable with sitting on Mommy's lap and sleeping with their favorite stuffed animal, it seems girls forget all about just being girls and they start to notice their differences from other girls. For me I was a little chunkier than my friends and I wore glasses, so I felt like I stuck out like a sore thumb amongst all the other girls. The average parent might naturally try and teach their little girl how to have confidence in herself so that she can rise above the pettiness that they face as they grow and change. They might tell her that she is pretty, and smart, and can be anything she wants to be.

 

If I could go back and talk to myself as a little girl wanting desperately to fit in I'd tell myself that confidence in yourself makes you a prideful person. Self confidence is flawed because it relies on your own fleshy thoughts and desires to build up self esteem within your self. With self confidence you may ending up pleasing your flesh and gaining the acceptance and praise of others, but what eternal value does it bring? We may think that we know what is best for ourselves, but apart from God we can do nothing.  I've learned that the only sort of confidence that has true worth is confidence in the One who has created Me. He truly knows what is best for me, has a purpose for my life, and will enable me to fulfill that purpose which ultimately will glorify Him.

 

My oldest is still at the age that she can comfortably be a girly girl everyday if she wants and not be embarrassed. I got a chance to let my hair down and be a Crazy Girl for just one night at the Crazy Girl Hair Tour in Richmond. I heard that this Tour was coming to the area on the radio and thought that it would be fun for my oldest and she had a blast. The show seeks to teach young girls (ages 9-12) to place their hope in Christ and to not be ashamed of their differences because God made them. We are uniquely made by God and as we strive to do His Will we can have all the confidence we need in Christ.

 

 

While I can't go and redo my adolescent years over again, I can seek to raise my children to know that there is more to life than what society has us to believe is important. It may make them different, but being normal is so overrated! 

 

Preparing for New Adventures

It’s been nice to have some wintery weather in 2014. If my memory serves me correctly, we haven’t had much of a winter in the past few years. I remember as a girl spending many days outside in the cold building snowmen and finding some hill to slide down. My parents had one of those old cast iron stoves in the family room and when we would come in the house with snowballs stuck to our wool gloves, we’d let them drop on the stop of the stove and watch them immediately sizzle and melt.

When our school let out yesterday, the kids made a mad dash for the back door with their snowsuits on. They grabbed a few sleds and sled till their hearts content. By the time they came back in the house they had turned into snowgirls with their pink cheeks and frozen noses.

Just a few days before all this snow fell, the weather had warmed up real nice, so the hubby and I had a chance to go over to the site where we’re putting our next house to mark off the area for our driveway and house location. The piece of property that will soon become our next home used to be a pine tree farm. The entire piece of property is covered with tall pine trees. They look like skinny skycsrapers soaring overhead when you look up at the sky. There are so many trees that cover the land, when it’s sunny the rays peak through the treetops.

 

To prepare for the timber company to come and clear trees off of our property, we had to mark the boundaries for the house location and driveway. You would think that it would be easy to mark a bunch of trees, but for someone like me who is directionally challenged this proved to be a very difficult task.

 

Everywhere I seemed to turn on the property, everything looked the same! All pine trees seem to look identical. It’s like one big maze. Thankfully, my hubby has a mind that like a map. He knows the property like the back of his hand. As I tried my best to keep up behind him, tying orange markers around trees I found myself getting distracted at envisioning what it will be like to make a new home there. I took notice of all the pretty holly which will be great for the kids and I to go out and pick to decorate the new house for Christmas. It was also so very peaceful and quiet there. I'm looking forward to the new adventures God has for us in this new place!

 

The Great Read Continues...

In a previous blog entry, I wrote about an author that I just happened upon online and starting reading some of her books. I finished her books, “Her Mother’s Dream” and “Her Mother’s Hope” and thoroughly enjoyed them both. I was eager to read more of her books and chose, “A Voice in the Wind”, Book 1 in the Mark of the Lion Series.

By the time that I got to the 2^nd and 3^rd chapter I was tempted to put it down and stop reading. I just couldn’t get into the book. Similar to a movie, when I start a book I’m always looking for the point when the author grips me. With “A Voice in the Wind”, I had trouble getting connected with the characters, the setting, or the whole point of the story all together. At the point when I was ready to turn it back into the library, a friend who had read all of Rivers books encouraged me to keep on reading. I am so glad that I did.

The story is set in the time period after Christ has died and has risen to be with His Father in Heaven and the Jewish people that remain are persecuted for their faith. Hadassah, a young jewish girl, is the main character of the story and has been kidnapped and made a slave of a Roman family. The story intertwines Hadassah’s life along with several other characters who are worshippers of varying gods. As I’ve read the book, my heart has been blessed by so many aspects of the book as the author has brought to life the Roman customs and Jewish life of that time. I don’t want to give too much of the book away in case my blog readers decide to read it. I will say that though Hadassah was a Jew, she was also a Christian and her commitment to her faith will encourage any Christian to examine their faith and their walk with Christ.

Now that I’m just about done with the book and eager to start Book 2, “Echo in the Darkness”, I now know why the first few chapters had a slow start. So, if any of you all out there decide to start this series don’t let the build up discourage you.

It’s a great read! 

Family Time In Pictures

Ski.

 

 

 

Lift.

 

Tube.

 

 

 

 

 

Family Fun Idea

My daughter received rubber band looms for Christmas and it has become a fun family activity. My hubby has a mathematical-pattern-remembering-brain and has really taken to learning complex patterns and looming them to create all sorts of bracelets. He and the girls had so much fun over the Christmas break creating bracelets.

The original “Rainbow Loom” was created by a Father after watching his daughters make bracelets with little rubber bands. He tried to mimic what they were doing, but had trouble creating bracelets with his big hands. So, he created a loom with pegs that can be used to create varying designs. The kids and the hubby have had fun learning new and complex patterns. Here are a few of their creations.

 

 

 

Random.

Isn’t it funny how something some simple can be so sweet when you put it on a baby?

Aren’t these the cutest pair of boots you’ve ever seen?

 

 

How about this simple Chicago Bears hat? Adorable.

 

 

And, this Santa Hat? Love it.

 

 

Chinese Baby Doll.

 

 

That was Random.

Cute, but Random.